10 Best V10 Touaregs You Can Buy Right Now

"Andrew T. Maness" (theroadlessdriven)
09/03/2014 at 17:20 • Filed to: Car Buying, VW, Touareg, SUV, Diesel, Volkswagen, Luxury, Advertising, Offroading, Used Car, AutoTrader, Ebay

I know what you're thinking, I'm just writing clickbait pieces because my Phaeton post got more hits than a bong on Wiz Kahlifa's tour bus. You're wrong though, Wiz doesn't mess around with the glass, he's strictly a white papers guy or so he says. Now that you've come back from Googling what a "Wiz Kahlifa" is, allow me to extoll the virtues of another incredibly ambitious Volkswagen vehicle from the mid aughts.

Like the Phaeton, the 1st gen Touareg was an example of what happens when a company ignores the naysaying bean counters and shoots for the moon. Even the lowly V6 model oozed fresh millennium confidence that VW was so full of back in 2002. Oh the optimism of those early years of the 21st century, VW thought they were headed for world domination. Who could have predicted that 8 years later they'd be building the worst version of their best selling car so that it could better compete with the Honda Civic. While I'm no Jetta fan boy I will at least admit that the cars once had character(remember the K2 and Trek editions?) and they were driven by characters(your dad's friend who toured with Grand Funk Railroad). Now they're just part of the crowd, blending in, playing it safe, they've gone beige.

Currently VW's are more reliable than ever, you can drive one for like, weeks on end without it exploding and whatnot, but at what cost? Across the model range I'd say "das auto" is completely uninspired. The interiors are an exercise in penny pinching, the exteriors uniform and boring. If you have no personal experience with any of these vehicles do me a favor, go find a 1st gen Touareg, sit in it for 5 minutes, then go find a current gen one and do the same. If you're of the same mind as I then you'll likely be really bummed out, perhaps upset but at the very least you'll understand why these V10 models are so special.

Originally available in 2004, banned in 2005 for being too awesome then reintroduced to the market in 2006, the 5.0L V10 TDI Touareg is one of the coolest vehicles you can drive. There's a mountain of visual evidence on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to prove it so I'm not going to waste your time trying to further explain why it's so great. Just understand that like project fueled by reckless ambition, there are drawbacks. It's stating the obvious when it comes to a mid 2000's VW but since you all do it regularly in the comments I'll go ahead and save you the trouble, they're expensive as hell to maintain. Now let that little bit of information fade from your mind as you read over this list. Picture yourself pulling that old growth stump from the backyard, thus making room for a pool, skate ramp or garden the wife always wanted.

I am not an advocate for any of the sellers, nor do I have any affiliation with the websites on which these vehicles are found.

Vehicles have been ranked using a very advanced algorithm consisting of age, location, mileage, price and number of owners. Sorry about the text links, not all sites play nice like AutoTrader and Ebay but trust me, they're worth clicking through.

1.) Black/Mocha, 68k mi, $19,500

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2.) !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

3.) !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

4.) Reflex Silver/Black, 92k mi, unknown reserve

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5.) Venetian Green Metallic/Black, 105k, $16,800

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6.) Reflex Silver/Mocha, 93k mi, $18,275

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7.) !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

8.) Reflex Silver/Black, 98k mi, $17,998

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9.) !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

10.) Offroad Gray Metallic/Gray, 48k mi, $34,500

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Which one would you go for?

DISCUSSION (18)

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Andrew T. Maness
09/03/2014 at 10:43

Wait wait wait.

I always thought it was weird how most Touregs only have one roof rack cross bar. I just realized that, that one is actually two. If you look close it is actually both cross bars, they just slide and fit together. I think they look silly like that, almost like it's a spoiler not a roof rack, but it's still kinda neat.

Doug DeMuro > Andrew T. Maness
09/03/2014 at 12:08

I literally cannot believe there ARE ten of these for sale right now!

Cown3d > Andrew T. Maness
09/03/2014 at 15:54

I have wanted one of these really bad for a while now. On the forums some of the guys with tunes are getting 26-27mpg hwy. with 700lb-ft of torque!

failtroll880000 > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
09/03/2014 at 16:28

Wind noise reduction on the highway.

Andrew T. Maness > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
09/03/2014 at 17:13

They had so many cool options, like a 100psi air hose, no flats!

Andrew T. Maness > Doug DeMuro
09/03/2014 at 17:14

I found 18 of them, these were the cleanest examples. Shame the condition some people let these things slip into.

MikaelVroom > Andrew T. Maness
09/03/2014 at 17:15

Well then I'll go ahead and post my favorite Touareg video.

Doug DeMuro > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
09/03/2014 at 17:25

It's for wind noise. When split apart, the two bars apparently caused a ton of noise, so VW placed them together. If you wanted to use them, you would just move them apart and put them into place. Classic VW solution to a classic VW problem.

Textured Soy Protein > Andrew T. Maness
09/03/2014 at 17:27

Is this some kind of response to my shunning the V10 Touareg yesterday? Then again, you also told me to get a Subaru Outback "3.0" (it's really a 3.6) in that post. ;)

Jagvar > Doug DeMuro
09/03/2014 at 17:53

There are two of these in my neighborhood (a black and a burgundy one), and a third (silver) shows up at Cars and Coffee most weeks!

Deputy Kovacs > Andrew T. Maness
09/03/2014 at 18:20

I had a friend (girl) who drove one of these around in high school. Fuck her, right?

I also drove a RRSport. Fuck me, right?

Tom > Andrew T. Maness
09/03/2014 at 20:27

How can one buy 10 best toureg's when there are zero good toureg's?

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Doug DeMuro
09/03/2014 at 22:27

and it's much simpler and eaier than Chrylser's fold away cross rails on the Grand Caravan/T&C, though not as good looking while not in use.

Andrew T. Maness > Textured Soy Protein
09/03/2014 at 23:56

Pure coincidence, I didn't see your post until after I'd put this up which is why I linked it.

While the 3.6 is currently in the Outback it was once a 3.0 that could also be found in the exceptional Legacy 3.0R sedan. I stand by my recommendation, especially the L.L. Bean edition from 2009.

Andrew T. Maness > Jagvar
09/03/2014 at 23:57

Pics or it didn't happen!

Textured Soy Protein > Andrew T. Maness
09/04/2014 at 00:03

I'm confused. You posted in my thread at 11:45 am . You made this post at 5:20 pm. Unless you scheduled it in advance?

Edit: I just noticed you moved this to a later post time. I'm a little absent minded apparently. I blame it on my not quite paying attention since I was posting at work. Or something.

Andrew T. Maness > Textured Soy Protein
09/04/2014 at 00:46

All good man, I usually post articles in the morning and then repost for the west coast afternoon/east coast evening crowd.

Keep me in the loop on your vehicle search, I think a Forester XT with some STi bits would actually be a better option than the Outback given that you're going to want something that handles somewhat nicely.

itranthelasttimeiparkedit > Andrew T. Maness
09/04/2014 at 16:39

man my wife wants something a bit bigger than her x3 and is onboard with the idea of diesel v10. We have a kid on the way though and I don't think I can afford that plus the maintenance costs on one of these....